Jae Won Shim sits in front of a piano that he bought from a church for a few hundred dollars. It was damaged during his recent move.

Written by

After Nashville's historic 2010 flooding, Jae Won Shim went from living on a Goodlettsville hilltop with tony neighbors including Garth Brooks to spending 15 months without electricity and running water in an abandoned strip center he owned across from the Nashville Farmers' Market.

Last month, apartment developers paid him $2.1 million for the property, although the money went to paying off Shim's loan, along with back taxes and other legal fees. Shim, however, is grateful to finally have a roof over his head - a modest foreclosure home on a much smaller hill in southeast Nashville.